Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A trademark for a musical instrument similar to a zither.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A musical instrument of the zither class, having across the strings several bars provided with projecting dampers so arranged that when one of the bars is pressed down all strings are damped or rendered mute except those of some particular chord.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A zitherlike musical instrument, provided with dampers which, when depressed, deaden some strings, leaving free others that form a chord.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • These are warmblooded, frequently up-tempo, bluesy alt-rock tracks propelled by curious devices: an omnipresent Autoharp; a sampling of Niney the Observer's reggae obscurity "Blood and Fire" on "Written on the Forehead".

    Album review: PJ Harvey, "Let England Shake" Allison Stewart 2011

  • These are warmblooded, frequently up-tempo, bluesy alt-rock tracks propelled by curious devices: an omnipresent Autoharp; a sampling of Niney the Observer's reggae obscurity "Blood and Fire" on "Written on the Forehead".

    Album review: P.J. Harvey's "Let England Shake" Post 2011

  • This collection called "Masters of Old Time Country Autoharp" clued a lot of people in to the fact that the autoharp could be more than a folk music joke or a gadget.

    New CD Celebrates Masters of Old-Time Autoharp 2006

  • NORRIS: You can hear more music from the "Masters of Old Time Country Autoharp" and see photos of them at NPR. org.

    New CD Celebrates Masters of Old-Time Autoharp 2006

  • I rested and wrote for three months, intending that the proceeds of the book entitled "The Autobiography of an Autoharp" should start another home.

    Fifteen Years with the Outcast

  • There I rested and wrote for three months, intending that the proceeds of the book entitled “The Autobiography of an Autoharp” should start another home.

    Fifteen Years With The Outcast Mother 1912

  • She plucked at a gold-flaked banjo on "Rocky Top," and later broke out a glittery grand piano, a sparkly Autoharp and a bedazzled dulcimer - all of which matched the dress she wore during her first set, an azalea frock glistening in sequin dew.

    The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post Chris Richards 2011

  • "Jimmy Carter Says Yes," often on an Autoharp or an electric zither of his own design.

    The New Yorker Nick Paumgarten 2011

  • "Ms. Harvey's vocals rise out of a kind of bleary skiffle, with the strumming of Autoharp or distorted electric guitar above rudimentary drumbeats," the New York Times critic Jon Pareles wrote in a review in February.

    NYT > Home Page By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR. 2011

  • Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson, and Dom Flemons trade lead vocals and swap instruments-banjo, jug, fiddle, bones, kazoo, Autoharp, sometimes guitar-and they've improved greatly as players since starting the band five years ago.

    Chicago Reader 2010

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